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My own previous research into:vocational educationwidening participation in higher educationhigher education in FE/HE institutionsconstructions of ‘knowledge’ in vocational qualificationsHE and social class

A concern for inequalities in educational experiencea pragmatic interest in the opportunities as well as the constraints of ‘vocational’ education

Questioning English WP policy goalsFor many individuals and for the country there may be more to be gained from vocational education in FE – which is in many respects, the area where we will tackle some of our key deficits as a country in intermediate skills. Apprenticeships rather than degree courses? [….] The reality is that our best FE colleges and advanced apprenticeships are delivering vocational education every bit as valuable for their students and the wider economy as the programmes provided by universities. [….] [T]here could be a law of diminishing returns in pushing more and more students through university. (Vince Cable, 2010)

Questioning ‘College for all’ in the US… mounting evidence that the college-for-all model isn't working. Nearly half of those who start a four-year degree don't finish on time; more than two-thirds of those who start community college fail to get a two-year degree on schedule. Even students who graduate emerge saddled with debt and often without the skills they need to make a decent living. (Los Angeles Times, 3.12.13)

‘all sub-degree HE provision’ (Little et al, 2003: 3)which leads on to particular levels of occupation in the UK Standard Occupational Classification (2000 and 2010) - associated professional and higher technician occupations, which represent the third of eight groups in the occupational classification hierarchy

HNCs, HNDs, Foundation Degrees, degrees, apprenticeships and professional awards, as well as ‘non-prescribed HE’ (BIS, 2011) offered mainly in English further education colleges

Skills are not as important to employers as policymakers continue to claim

Employers are not a homogeneous group and there are different labour markets, not one labour market

One high-skills, knowledge-driven economy across the UK is an illusion

There are few or no incentives from the labour market, through for example license to practise, for intermediate qualifications in particular.

‘There is some evidence […] that good, high-paying, high-skill jobs and low-paid, low-skilled work are both becoming more concentrated in certain localities, leading to a polarisation of the employment options facing some communities.’ (Pring et al, 2009: 141)

Public policy has for decades focused on university education, not the ‘other 50 per cent’ who go on to take vocational education or work, and who face lower funding and greater complexity in their choices. The UK has longstanding problems in building a vocational route that is high volume, and commands parity of esteem with academic pathways. Whereas countries like Germany and Australia accord high status to vocational education and apprenticeships as a route into employment, the UK has placed its bets on higher - rather than vocational routes. (Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, 2013: 23)

New research shows that there is a problem at the bottom end of the professional career ladder. Take two students with the same prior attainment, subjects and university: three years after graduation, the one from an advantaged background has a higher chance of being in a top job than the one from a disadvantaged background. The class effect is bigger than the gender effect. The top professional jobs are still more likely to go to men from a private school and privileged background. The hope that the phenomenon of a social elite dominating the top jobs would fade over time seems misplaced. (Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, 2013: 26-27)

HE graduates have maintained or increased their relative advantage (if not their absolute position) in the transition process

Unqualified school leavers, despite the decline in their numbers, continue to suffer the greatest disadvantage

Children of working-class or unemployed parents, migrants and ethnic minority groups are disadvantaged; even when they perform well in education their gains may not carry forward into the labour market.

Females have overtaken males in terms of educational attainment but they experience less favourable labour-market outcomes than males. (Raffe, 2013: 9)

Changing trends in educational participation mean that past interest in school-to-work transitions has expanded to focus on HE transitions (into and out of HE). In a diversified and stratified system, who participates in what form of higher education is a crucial question. (Reay et al, 2005; Croxford and Raffe, 2013)

c. 1 in 12 higher education students (8%of the HE population) were taught in FECs.

177,000 students were studying for undergraduate, postgraduate and other higher level qualifications in the further education sector. 61%were pursuing courses of undergraduate education. 36% were studying for other higher-level qualifications. 3% were postgraduate students. (Parry et al, 2012: 12)

What does ‘higher vocational education’ need to look like in a context of increasing vertical stratification of the HE field?

If vertical diversity is attractive, arousing emotions associated with ‘elite, excellence, quality’, whichlegitimises winners and stigmatises those not on top (Teichler, 2008), is it possible to develop ‘distinctive’ and valued higher level vocationaleducation?

What would be key features of higher level vocational education that ensure students are having doors opened, rather than being ‘cooled out’?

The 43 HBO institutions, or universities of higher professional education, together offer 200 programmes in a wide range of disciplines. They provide theoretical and practical training for occupations for which a higher vocational qualification is either required or useful. Graduates find employment in various fields, including middle and high-ranking jobs in trade and industry, social services, health care and the public sector.

The BHS takes one year longer than the general academic schools to complete. It offers a five-year course that is open to everyone who has successfully completed the eighth school grade.

The BHS leads to a double qualification, namely an academic baccalaureate and a VET diploma. The academic baccalaureate provides access to HE, while the VET diploma grants the right to exercise higher-level occupations.

After three years of relevant professional experience, graduates from the BHS of engineering, arts and crafts and the colleges of agriculture and forestry can apply for the title “Engineer” (StandesbezeichnungIngenieur).

That is, there are always at least two learning environments. Furthermore, in dual study programs, students and firms are bound by a training, part-time, practical training, or internship contract and students earn a salary.

Designed for vocationally trained people, and legally obliged to be practice oriented.

They are directly linked to dual apprenticeship training via the vocational baccalaureate. The Swiss vocational baccalaureate, which is regarded as the ideal path (“Königsweg”) into a Swiss university of applied sciences, builds a bridge between dual apprenticeship training and universities of applied sciences.

Together, the university of applied sciences, dual apprenticeship and vocational baccalaureate combines learning processes from both VET and HE and links upper-secondary VET with post-secondary HE

They also signify a new premium sector, for example in terms of social prestige and labor market prospects. [….] This is mainly because they build on a level of parity of esteem between VET and HE that cannot be found in more school-based VET systems like in France or VET systems that are more oriented towards “learning-on-the-job” like in the UK or the US.

Pringet al (2009) argue for 14-19 education and training that tracks tend ‘to channel learners in a particular direction, minimising opportunities for flexible movement between different types of qualification and curricula.’

They propose curriculum routes instead of tracks. Routes allow learners to progress horizontally and vertically. ‘This is made possible when qualifications are less distinctive and share common properties in terms of assessment, knowledge and skills.’ (Pring et al, 2009: 117)

The development of broad-ranging knowledge and skills in vocational streams:

Vocational streams consist of linked occupations that share common vocational practices and knowledge base. Each vocational stream consists of a number of different occupations, and each occupation consists of a number of different jobs. Horizontal movement between occupations and jobs is possible, as well as vertical movement to higher skilled occupations and jobs. (Wheelahan, 2013)

There is a danger that vocational education will be interpreted in theory and practice as trade education: as a means of securing technical efficiency in specialized future pursuits. Education would then become an instrument of perpetuating unchanged the existing industrial order of society, instead of operating as a means of its transformation. The desired transformation is not difficult to define in a formal way. It signifies a society in which every person shall be occupied in something which makes the lives of others better worth living, and which accordingly makes the ties which bind persons together more perceptible—which breaks down the barriers of distance between them. (Dewey, 1916/2001, p.325)

Michael Eraut (2001) The Role and Use of Vocational Qualifications, National Institute Economic Review no 178: 88-98.

Furlong, A. and Cartmel, F. (1999) Social Change and Labour Market Transitions in Ahier, J. and Esland, G. (eds) Education, Training and the Future of Work 1. Social, Political and Economic Contexts of Policy Development, London and New York: Routledge, pp.219-235.